MARGIE BURNS

White House Disclosures Lead to 'Hal'

While the months pass for US troops occupying Iraq, the financial
value and taxpayer-funded cost of Halliburton's extensive Iraq
contracts increase.

Halliburton, a huge global conglomerate in the oil field
business, landed a non-competitive-bid contract for work in Iraq that
now looks almost open-ended. The cost, recently reported by the New
York Times at over $2 billion, has led to inquiries being sent to the
Office of Management and Budget by Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.)
and John D. Dingell (D-Mich.).

Among other issues, Vice President Richard Cheney was head of
Halliburton from 1995 to 2000 and may receive deferred compensation
and other benefits (not yet calculated) from Halliburton for a period
of five years, according to his 2001 financial disclosure statement.
Cheney's "golden handshake," however, is not the administration's
only link to Halliburton. The company's chief shareholders, whose top
management can be predicted to benefit financially from war in Iraq,
also have administration ties.

David Letterman-style, the Top Ten shareholders for Halliburton
Company, Inc., are as follows: (see biz.yahoo.com/hd/h/hal.html):

#10: The Vanguard Group, with 7.6 million shares of Halliburton
stock, worth about $176 million. Vanguard, also 10th largest
mutual-fund shareholder in Halliburton, is a huge owner in ExxonMobil
and ConocoPhillips. It moved onto this list recently when
Dallas-based Maverick Capital, privately owned by the Wylie family,
moved off. Vice President Cheney's disclosure statement (above) shows
millions of his retirement money invested through Vanguard.

#9: Lord Abbett & Co., with about 8 million shares of
Halliburton. Lord Abbett's trustees, who manage billions controlled
by this investment firm, include Bush uncle William H. T. Bush. Lord
Abbett is also one of Halliburton's top ten mutual fund holders
(another 4.7 million shares).

#8: Deutsche Bank, with 8.3 million shares of Halliburton.
Deutsche Bank was home to Alvin B. Krongard, now Bush's number-three
man at the CIA. Krongard, whom the CIA web site lists as a longtime
consultant, was a director at Alex Brown Bankers Trust, which got a
multi-million management contract with FMR (see #7).

#7: FMR Corporation (Fidelity Management & Research), with 10
million shares. FMR, the world's largest mutual fund company, and
Wellington (see #2, below) are by far the biggest shareholders in TB
Woods Corp., where presidential cousin Craig Stapleton was a director
before becoming ambassador to the Czech Republic. FMR also owns big
in United Defense/Carlyle, connected to former President George H. W.
Bush, and Fresh Del Monte, where presidential brother Marvin P. Bush
is back on the board. Interestingly, FMR also owns about 50,000
shares of Harken Energy, George W. Bush's old stomping grounds
(current value: about $20,000). Fidelity's Magellan Fund is also the
second largest mutual fund holder in Halliburton.

#6: Putnam Investment Manage-ment, LLC, with more than 12.5
million shares. Putnam also owns stock in United Defense/the Carlyle
Group and in Fresh Del Monte. Putnam is another top mutual fund
holder in Halliburton.

#5: State Street Corporation, with 13 million shares. State
Street, which reportedly controls $6 trillion in investments,
recently revealed plans for a multi-million deal with (#8) Deutsche
Bank, and owns $4.5B worth of Morgan Stanley (#3, below). State
Street is also hugely invested in ExxonMobil, one of Saddam's biggest
customers, and BP, which started life as "Iraq Petroleum." Also owns
big in United Defense/Carlyle.

#4: Barclays Bank PLC, with 17.5 million shares of Halliburton.
Barclays is also into United Defense and Fresh Del Monte, and has
successfully hung on to 85,000 shares of Harken Energy.

#3: Morgan Stanley, with over 20 million shares. Morgan Stanley,
among other connections on this list, is also a shareholder in United
Defense and Fresh Del Monte, as well as in #8 Deutsche Bank.

#2: Wellington Management Co., LLP: Headquartered in Boston,
Wellington calls itself one of America's oldest investment firms. It
holds about 23 million shares, or more than half a billion dollars'
worth, of Halliburton, and is linked with most of the rest of this
list.

#1: Capital Research and Manage-ment Company, with 25 million
shares, also worth over half a billion dollars. Los Angeles-based
Capital Group is also a major investor in military contractors
Lockheed and Raytheon, and is linked with FMR and Wellington in other
large holdings.

Vice presidential candidates have traditionally been chosen for
the political advantage of a background, region, age, etc., different
from that of the presidential candidate. The American system of
orderly transmission of power indulges this political expediency
partly because it helps prevent the formation of a behind-the-scenes
cabal. Good idea.

This list footnotes some of the recent public discussion about
Halliburton. On Meet the Press Sept. 14, Cheney disavowed any present
connection to Halliburton: "And since I left Halliburton to become
George Bush's vice president, I've severed all my ties with the
company, gotten rid of all my financial interests. I have no
financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had now for
over three years." The statement was subsequently reinforced by
spokespersons for both Cheney and Halliburton, who pointed out that
Cheney's contract protects his benefits even if the company loses
money.

The disclosure form paints a somewhat more nuanced picture. The
Vanguard Group holdings are easily among Cheney's largest holdings.
Assets are given in ranges (from $100,000 to $1M; from $1M to $5M;
etc). Cheney's statement includes two holdings in the $500,000-$1M
range; two holdings in the $1M-$5M range; and three holdings in the
$5M-$25M range. Thus Cheney's assets invested with Vanguard Group
total $18M to $87M. Given the size of Vanguard's stake in
Halliburton, it is hard to imagine a mathematical possibility that
Cheney's assets are unconnected to Halliburton's fortunes.

Probable return on assets is obviously hard to quantify. Some
estimate can be provided by George W. Bush's own financial disclosure
statement (see www.opensecrets.org). Bush had relatively piddling
assets of $68,766 invested in Vanguard in 2001, on which he declared
a quite respectable capital gain of $4,735, or about 6%.

Interestingly, the previous list of top Halliburton shareholders
included Texas' Wylie brothers, known as the Maverick Group. The
privately owned Maverick Capital last surfaced in headlines back
during campaign 2000, when the billionaire Wylies turned out to be
behind a group called "Republicans for Clean Air." The group, little
known before the campaign, ran a blitz of pro-Bush ads praising Bush
on the environment and attacking John McCain, just before the March
primaries in 2000, when McCain had been beating Bush, and was
credited with damaging McCain's candidacy.

Among other holdings, Maverick also owns millions of shares of
the rightwing Liberty Media Corporation and Clear Channel
Communications, which sponsored a series of war-boosting rallies
around the nation in spring 2003. To these influences can be
attributed much of the quality of public discourse about Iraq.

Margie Burns is a Texas native who now writes from Washington,
D.C. Email margie.burns@verizon.net.